ciiap. yi. CONDITION AND NUMBER OF THE SLAVES. 
149 
in the collar, and standing up by the sides of his head. 
These, however, were the only instances of this kind of 
punishment which came under my notice* 
So short a residence as mine amongst the people afforded 
opportunity for little beyond a passing glance at the outside 
aspect of slavery in Madagascar, and a brief notice of the 
subject is consequently all that I have attempted. The con¬ 
dition of the slaves as compared with that of the free, though 
exhibiting many of the evils inherent in slavery, and insepa¬ 
rable from it, appeared in many respects much less oppressive 
than I had been prepared to expect. In some instances, 
however, it was hopeless, the sentence of being sold into 
slavery for some offence peculiarly obnoxious to the autho¬ 
rities being at times made irreversible ; so that, however the 
friends or relatives of the party punished might be able or 
disposed to effect his liberation by the payment of the sum 
at which he had been valued, or for which he was sold, they 
were not allowed to do so, the penalty inflicted having been 
not only slavery but unredeemable slavery. This sentence 
has been rendered still more oppressive in the case of some 
of the Christians, when one condition of their slavery has 
been that they should only be sold to parties who would 
undertake to keep them continually at hard work. 
The proportion of slaves to the entire population must be 
great, as the children of all slaves are such from birth ;• and 
besides the natural increase of the slave population, many 
born free become slaves in consequence of debt, crime, or 
capture in war. The Hovas have of late years returned from 
their military expeditions into distant parts of the island 
with vast numbers of captives, often hundreds, and sometimes 
thousands, chiefly youths, women, and children, all of whom 
are usually sold for slaves, and as such are distributed over 
the whole of the country. 
I have already noticed the frequent visits of those who 
